Helen Battersby | Writer, Creative Consultant

Writing matters. Thinking matters more.

A blog by any other name

What could you call this but a “blog.” The word itself is so newly coined that trying to replace blog with another term – like jottings or journal – becomes an exercise in confusion. A blog by any other name would still be a web log.

It can be like that in branding, too.

Sometimes people develop new names or taglines simply for the sake of change. Yet there are times when I’m a fan of the “if it ain’t broke” philosophy.

Years ago, I was contracted by a client to develop a new tagline. After conducting my research, looking at competitors, and talking to people within the organization, I came to a surprising conclusion.

They didn’t need a new tagline.

The client was a training and executive development firm, and their tag was Results you can see. Yet, the results – and there were plenty of meaningful results to brag about – were nowhere to be seen in their communications.

They needed to do a better job of living the tag they had already.

And that meant more than simply talking about it. It meant formalizing procedures to benchmark and collect measurable results for all assignments – so they would always have something new to talk about. It meant thinking about their entire business in those terms.

Now, I can’t claim to have developed Results you can see. However, it was gratifying that, many years later, it was still a part of the client’s strategy.

And that’s why this blog is simply a blog. I hope to sidestep the “shoemaker’s children syndrome” in months ahead and continue to add to it. I welcome your thoughts.